Trophies

You tell me
I once appreciated
the taste of wild meat--

that I never curled my nose
away from venison, rabbit,
pheasant or squirrel,

but all I remember is rotting

fish skulls nailed to a tree,
bluebottle flies buzzing
near buckets of legless frogs,
piles of bony rodent feet,
and the stench of wet
feathers and blood.

You tell me
I once appreciated
the taste of wild meat,

and I know you must miss
that bright-eyed girl--

the tiny child who begged
"More rat, Daddy. More rat!"
always smiled and giggled
as you filled her plate.

Time Twist (a paradelle)

I am the audience who listens and laughs.
I am the audience who listens and laughs.
I am the clown who visits your dreams.
I am the clown who visits your dreams.

Who listens and laughs? The clown, I am.
Who visits the audience? I am your dreams.
Hell is a question that's not what it seems.
Hell is a question that's not what it seems.

Up is a downer that huffs and puffs.
Up is a downer that huffs and puffs.
It seems Hell huffs and puffs. That is a downer.
Up? That's a question. Not what is.

Time is a number. A fish hook, it twists.
Time is a number. A fish hook, it twists.
Sleep is a tunnel. Like death, it looms.
Sleep is a tunnel. Like death, it looms.

A fish is a hook. It looms like sleep.
Death is a number. It tunnel-twists time.
The clown, I am, who huffs and puffs dreams.
I am your question that's not, it seems.

A fish is a sleep number who visits Hell.
The audience laughs like that is a downer.
Death is a hook. It looms up a tunnel.
Time, it listens and twists what is.


***The paradelle form is a parody of the villanelle. It was created by Billy Collins.